…And Listening in to Conversations

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A Procrastinator’s Start

I’ve been putting off my first post to this blog, racking my brains on how to start, what to say. ‘Oh muse! Please enlighten me on how to make the most memorable first post ever’. Of course, I’ve come up short with ideas on how to get the ball rolling. So I figured that I should just write something already…also composing this first post is way less scary than the dishes in my sink!

So having asked for something memorable I thought that I would begin with a few of the memorable subway encounters I’ve experienced since moving to Toronto 9 months ago.

1) The Movie Critics: This was a conversation I, and a whole car of people, overheard the other day. Two men, mid to late twenties, spent a solid half an hour boisterously displaying their movie and film prowess. I can’t remember exactly which movies were being discussed but I do remember they represented a wide variety of genres. There were a lot of very technical sounding terms being thrown around. They laughed and complained and looked around to ensure that everyone could hear them and their film genius. Made me wonder, who are these guys trying to impress on a Tuesday afternoon in the middle of the day? Why weren’t they at work? Why were they so desperate for people to know that they knew stuff about movies?
It kind of reminded me of being fourteen and thinking I was the world’s leading expert on everything. I remember thinking, after I had just dropped a golden nugget of wisdom on someone, how cool the people around me must have thought I was. I got the distinct feeling that these two gentlemen were probably thinking the same thing. Obviously, I realize now how ridiculous I must have sounded. Of course, I wasn’t a film genius.

2) Lady Reading a Script: I want to know what this woman does that she gets to reads scripts on the subway! I’ve never understood script writing. I’ve tried my hand at it a time or two and almost as quickly as I started it I hid it away from the light of day. It is a form of writing I can’t quite seem to wrap my brain around. That said I am extremely impressed by people who are able to write scripts, let alone write them well. This lady was very patient, as I was not hiding my attempt to read the script in her hand. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was a good script. I couldn’t really tell. She hadn’t really made any notes on it, so maybe she was just looking it over for a friend. It looked fairly professional and she looked professional, maybe it was for a writing course. It was quite the tome and full of car chases from the snippets I was able to read over her shoulder. Cars exploding, flipping over, high speed chases. Maybe it was the script for the new Fast and the Furious?

3) The Chivalrous Man: Some time ago I was sitting in an inside seat on the train by a window. The train was packed and I was enjoying not having to stand for the forty-five some minutes to my stop, when this beautiful pregnant lady waddles onto the train. She positioned herself in front of the priority seating nearby, one hand holding her stomach, the other the pole. I waited two stops selfishly debating if I really wanted to give up my comfy seat. Alas, I firmly believe in doing good deeds for people, especially people you don’t know. Everyone else around me was doing their best to avoid eye contact and ignore the fact that she looked really uncomfortable. So, even though it took me a few minutes to reconcile my fate to standing on the subway during rush hour I eventually reached over to get her attention and offered her my seat. No sooner had I begun to stand to wiggle my way past the gentlemen sitting on the outside seat then said gentleman jumped up and gave up his seat instead. To this I had a mixed emotional response. This man had taken away my kind, selfless gesture as everyone around us nodded in approval (it’s just right that a gentleman should give up his seat for a lady) so I was a little miffed; on the other hand I got to keep my seat which made my feet very happy. So thank you kind sir for stealing my thunder, but letting me rest on my way home from work.

There we have it, the first post. Isn’t it beautiful? It’s just what I envisioned. Also now it’s too late to do my dishes, such a shame.